Some photos

Here are some photos that we have taken while we have been here.

Its not always safe to walk around with a decent camera so I appologise for the quality. The view from the yacht is on the anchorage looking over to the old town, the high rise blocks are on the approach into Cartagena, the final one is of the old town gate into the old quarter of Cartagena.

Cartagena- more Black Sabbath than Rock & Roll

Well we arrived in Cartagena in Colombia last Thursday after a trip that was more Black Sabbath with a bit of Ossie Osbourne thrown in than Rock & Roll. The trip from Aruba to Cartagena is one of the 5 roughest sea passages in the world and let me tell you it lived up to its name! We had 35 foot swells and 40 knots of wind, Honalee handled it great although we were on our side a couple of times but nothing that she couldn´t handle.

Poor old Nigel dosn´t sleep too well when its rough and was suffering from sleep depravation to the point where he was hallucinating. At one point he came out with an Ossie Classic - ´F*ck me Sharon - I just saw a red chinese dragon come out of the water!´and for those of you that know Nigel well he is 1. not prone to swearing and 2. dosn´t usually come out with wierd stuff like that. Anyhow he has now recovered.

What can I say about Cartagena - pretty dodgy! everyone carries side arms, even the trolley collector at the supermarket! In general the people are pretty friendly but very security concious most of the time, most streets hire their own security guard who is armed at all times. I came out of the supermarket not looking where I was going the other day - looked up and had a chrome pump action shotgun a foot from my head - Brinks Matt were delivering/collecting money.

Last night 34 of us went into the old town for a meal at the local cattering school, which was fun - food wasn´t great but we had a great time. After the meal 4 of us went to one of the local salsa bars, wow - everyone dances here! it spills out onto the pavement with people dancing in the road and cars driving round them. We got home at 1:30 after an interesting taxi ride back to the marina - not quite like the one back from New Years Eve more hariy driving than anything.

We think we will be leaving for the San Blas at the weekend as long as we can get the work done. These are a group of islands off the coast of Panama inhabited by the Kuna indians - google them they look fantastic.

Oh - we didn´t get stopped by the DEA but the boys from Troutbridge did, they got harangued for half an hour or so before being let under way. We thought it a big exageration about the DEA, but when we got here we are anchored opposite the Naval Base where they seem to be based. Everyday we are flown over by Blackhawk helicopters, and at the weekend we had the pleasure of the stealth boat being alongside - spooky looking thing - now we know it really does exhist!

Anyow I will close now - hopefully more to come tommorrow and some photos.

Down Town Cartagena on a Sunday Morning

Well this was different experience I can tell you! If you can imagine being in a traditional but poor suburb of Barcelona then this is the old town of Cartagena but with a twist thrown in. The twist being that most people around you are tooting side arms, and to top it all we figured there must have been a VIP at church as there were police, bodyguards and soldiers wearing just about every bit of fire power that you can imagine. Even the car park attendants and trolley collectors wear side arms, gives you a warm fuzzy feeling doesn’t it! This certainly is a lawless country, seems as if most people are very security conscious all the time. Ted and Nigel quite enjoyed it but to be honest I was glad to get out of the place – it was a bundle of laughs when a motorbike backfired – NOT! You thought that a gun battle was about to take place around you.

I will go back in again as the material shops are so cheap and I want to buy some material to trade for molas in the San Blas Islands; which we intend to be our next stop. Life out on the anchorage isn’t much different to being in the city – only quieter, at night it is patrolled by the coastguard and military. Yesterday we had 2 black hawk helicopters fly low over us and land on the opposite shore, and this morning we woke to find what we have named ‘The Stealth Boat’ docked at the quay opposite. We now know why the DEA boat doesn’t show up on your radar at sea, this thing is shaped like a nautical stealth bomber and coated in Radar Absorbing Material, must scare the hell out of you if it suddenly comes up on your stern in the middle of the night.

We are hoping to get the last of our repairs done here and finally depart for hopefully what will be the start of our tropical island adventure, apart from our (hopefully) brief stopover in Colon before transiting the Canal. Colon is one place I will NOT being going ashore, so I’m really hoping that we can get a place in a marina on the other shore.

Shopping is turning out to be very interesting, I’m discovering lots of new and exotic fruit and veg, and eating out has turned into a real adventure I can tell you – half the time we don’t know what we are ordering – some tastes good – some doesn’t. Nigel has given up being a vegetarian and is back into being a carnivore again, but he did turn his nose up at the ‘beef’? we had yesterday. It was more like buffalo and you could have soled your boots with it. Stocking up with 6 months worth of food here is going to be a nightmare, not only have I got to figure out what to buy, we’ve got to find homes for storing it. At the moment half of Ted’s berth is full of storage boxes loaded with stores, soon mine and Nigel’s cabin will be full, looks a if our pillows will be bags of rice and flour for a while (guess who’s will get eaten first? Seeing I’m the only one who cooks when it’s rough).

It’s difficult to load photos – it’s going to be very sporadic I’m afraid but I’ll try when ever I can.

Just another Lazy day ............

Well what have we done over the weekend? mainly lazing around on the foredeck - going for a swim - or drinking beer! life is tough here in Curacao!

Well not everything has been so easy - Nigel and Ted have done some work and I have done the laundry. Next time you are loading your washing machine please spare a thought for me - I feel like some medieval washer woman. Life does have some little pleasures though - the 'ice cream' boat comes round after lunch time - this also doubles as the water/ice delivery bouser. Gossip has it on the scuttlebutt that the icecream man is also a male stripper at the brothel here in Curacao. Curacao belongs to Holland so is very liberal with its laws, prostitution is legal here and apparently it is home to the biggest brothel in the Caribbean. Personally - looking at him I wouldn't pay good money for him to take his clothes off!

Our Swedish neighbours continue to be a source of entertainment - Nigel and Ted don't know where to look when 'her next door' goes for a shower. Poor Nigel was cooking dinner the other night and through the galley hatch he got 'boobed' by the elderly neighbour - put him right off his meal. Now I'm sure if it was a boat full of twenty year olds things would be slightly different me thinks!

We are hoping that our electrician is going to turn up tommorrow - if not we are setting off for Cartagena in Colombia. We have a great weather window and we really need to be gone before storm force winds and big seas start to build off the Rio Magdalena, this is one place you don't need to be in high winds. The guys on Troutbridge; the catamaran behind us departed yesterday afternoon bound for Cartagena - no doubt we will catch up with them along the way. They're also going across the Pacific same route as us - in a slightly more luxurious style than us I might add! but when I went over for a 'cup of Earl Grey' the other day I got bitten to pieces - me thinks they have 'company' onboard as my Mum would say!

The picture is the view from Honale's foredeck across Spanish Waters

Happy New Year!

Well this morning we are recovering from our New Year celebrations in Curacao, we are all suffering today - more from lack of sleep than an excess of drink I might add!

It was always deemed to be a quiet night on the anchorage so with Simon from 'Troutbridge' anchored behind us we took ourselves into Willemstad in their hire car. This proved to be an adventure in its self - trying to find our way in the dark along bumpy back roads trying to find the main road - no street lights and a car that veered to the left with dodgy brakes.

I think that the whole population of Curacao had descended on Willemstad - and most of them including 3 and 4 year old children were downloaded with fireworks. Its preety scary seeing a 4 year old launch a rocket from his hand whilst carrying a backpack full of rocket launcher size ones on his back. We saw the New Year in on the floating bridge with a few thousand other people, this thing floats on pontoons and its enough to make you seasick when around a couple of thousand people start to jump and shout altogether. Even on the night of the millenium I haven't seen as many fireworks as I did last night, the people here are crazy for fireworks and let them off at all times of the days. The firecrakers are a nightmare as you can be walking down the street and suddenly someone launches some out of a shop or office door - health and safety don't count for anything here!

Our drive home was even more eventful than our drive in! people were obviously worse for wear at around 2 am but the fireworks were still coming thick and fast. We likened our drive home to a trip around down town Kandahar, we would be driving along these narrow roads when suddenly someone would throw a rocket in front of the car - baa boom they went off like mortars! Poor old Ted who was in the front of the car nearly had a heart attack - so with Nigel in the back of the car busting for the loo and us unable to stop it made for an eventful journey home. We did eventually find somewhere safe for Nigel to jump out of the car and 'relieve' himself - only for him to have the beejesus scared out of him as an earthquake bomb went off the other side of the hedge - sorry folks I nearly peeded my pants with laughter!

The barage of fireworks went off until 7am this morning when they all crawled home to bed exhausted. It is now 8pm on the 1st of January and guess what? its started all over again! We will all be glad to get to sea for some peace - if you fancy a great party and a wild time - Curacao is the place to come and celebrate New Year.

A Happy New year to you all!